Dear Mr. Sheriff,
My effort to reach you last night was in vain. -
Your gentlemen in the vestibule regretfully and firmly refused to
allow my gracious host to receive his invited guest.
My repulse was complete in its humiliation, for the
official Guardian dismissed me in my own name - and I was not
permitted to leave the place under the guise of the unknown impostor.
To present myself at your door in answer to your
joyous summons, was, it seemed to me, the next thing to do, after
the pleasant correspondence in which I had, without suspicion,
accepted your proposed hospitality, - and so unthinking, and
"unarmed" (I left the cane behind me) I drove from the depths of
Chelsea to distant Drury Lane - frozen but confident.
A rash and ill-considered proceeding altogether!
I was told that I must not pass the portal without the proper
voucher for my appearance - and as the card you had been good enough
to send me was, at that moment, carefully exposed upon the mantel
in Cheyne Walk - too large for any pocket - my discomfiture required
no further element - and I journeyed back into the night - remember -
ing that you are charming - that your servants are admirable - that
in short, "the principle remained the same" - and that I must send
you this note of acknowledgment.